Betting on the Civil Service Examinations

Regular price €38.99
A01=En Li
Age Group_Uncategorized
Age Group_Uncategorized
Author_En Li
automatic-update
betting
Canton
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=HBJF
Category=HBTB
Category=JPP
Category=NHF
Category=NHTB
Category=WDP
China
Chinese diaspora
civil service
civil service examination
COP=United States
corruption
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
fiscal policy
gambling
games
government policy
Guangdong
Guangzhou
Hong Kong
Huizhou
Language_English
lottery
lottery games
lottery regulation
Macau
meritocracy
migration
modern China
mountain lottery
North America
PA=Available
Price_€20 to €50
PS=Active
public official. late imperial China
Qing dynasty
softlaunch
Southeast Asia
Straits Settlements
strategic thinking
strategy
taxation
weixing
white pigeon lottery

Product details

  • ISBN 9780674293830
  • Weight: 612g
  • Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
  • Publication Date: 20 Jun 2023
  • Publisher: Harvard University Press
  • Publication City/Country: US
  • Product Form: Paperback
  • Language: English
Delivery/Collection within 10-20 working days

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Weixing, or “surname guessing,” was a highly organized lottery practice in China wherein money was bet on the surnames of which candidates would pass the civil and military examinations. For centuries, up until 1905, the examination system was the primary means by which the Chinese state selected new officials from all over the empire and a way for commoners to climb the social ladder.

How was betting on the examinations possible and why did it matter? Opening with a weixing-related examination scandal in 1885, En Li reconstructs the inner mechanisms of weixing and other lottery games in the southern province of Guangdong. By placing the history of the lottery in a larger context, the author traces a series of institutional revenue innovations surrounding lottery regulation from the 1850s to the early 1900s, and depicts an expansive community created by the lottery with cultural and informational channels stretching among Guangdong, Southeast Asia, and North America. This book sheds light on a new reality that emerged during the final decades of China’s last imperial dynasty, with a nuanced understanding of competitions, strategic thinking by lottery players and public officials seeking to maximize revenues, and a global network of players.

En Li is Assistant Professor of Modern East Asian History at the University of Texas at Dallas.